All-Star Memories

With the All-Star Game in St. Louis now behind us, the history of the Mid-Summer Classic includes a couple unlikely Dodger selections, one as a write-in candidate and the other amazing story of a Dodger All-Star who never played for the Dodgers.

In 1974, first baseman Steve Garvey earned National League MVP honors while helping the Dodgers make their first World Series appearance since 1966. But Garvey wasn’t a household name at the beginning of the season and he did not appear on the All-Star ballot. Garvey, though, would join Rico Carty (1970 Braves) as the only write-in candidates to be elected to the N.L. starting lineup. Garvey became a 10-time All-Star with the Dodgers and Padres and he earned All-Star Game MVP honors in 1974 and 1978.

The other surprising Los Angeles All-Star is relief pitcher Jeff Shaw, whom the Dodgers acquired from the Cincinnati Reds on the weekend before the 1998 All-Star Game. Instead of reporting to Los Angeles, which was playing in San Francisco, Shaw traveled from Cincinnati to Denver, site of the All-Star Game. Shaw hadn’t yet pitched for his new team, but nevertheless donned a Dodger uniform.

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Good afternoon all!
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I hope all is well with everybody!
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Looking forward to some Dodger Baseball tomorrow as well as the rest of the season. I’m thinking we are going to need another SP and Bully guy. I’m a little worried about Brox’s toe. We all know how it goes with Conte from no big deal then day to day then 15 day DL then season ending surgery.
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Should be interesting to see what transpires in the next couple of weeks. I’m thinking the Giants might try to get Dunn from the Nationals.
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Could we get Halliday? Boy it would be sweet but if he cost us so much we would have to part with half our farm as well as a few of our current team, then forget it. Now if they could get him for less players and pay for part of his contract then that might work.
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It just makes me get that much madder at A. Jones. If he did last year what he’s doing this year, we wouldn’t of had to get Manny and then this year could of possibly gotten CC or another pitcher to bolster the staff.
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Anyway take care & Go Blue!!
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Bring the Ring to LA in 2009!!!!

I worry about Broxton, as well. There really is NO ONE to fill that void should Broxton’s health become an issue. I’m all for a Halladay deal. Build the offer around native son Martin. I know there are a lot of Martin lovers out there, but Halladay won’t come cheap and I consider Loney, Kemp amd Ethier as having a higher upside over the next 5-10 years. Wouldn’t include Billingsley or Kershaw, either, but the Dodgers have a lot of younger arms with tremendous upside, including first-round pick, Josh Lindblom, as well as McDonald. Just thinking out loud here, Martin fans.

Parting with Martin would be tough but of all the guys on the team, I could live with it the most. But just for a guy like Halliday.
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I saw Lindblom pitch in ST here in SF and he has some pretty electric stuff. I know he’s only a prospect but I’d like to try to keep him. But that might be because I saw him play. But for Halliday I’d give him up.
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KC is like 11.5 games back.
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I know Bannister isn’t a #1 & his W/L is under .500, but he has a 3.66 era. His WHIP is 1.29.
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He is really only an average pitcher but maybe we could get him for not to much to bolster the staff.

Hello Joe! I haven’t had the pleasure since before the tour.
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I’m so glad you ended up going! It brought a huge smile to my face to see/read the piece about the tour.
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It was one of those things that life was meant for. Good times…
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I hope all is well.

Those were two outstanding Dodger all-star memories, Garvey named 1974 All-Star MVP, after getting in as a write-in candidate and Jeff Shaw pitching for the Dodgers in the All-Star game before he pitched for the Dodgers.
Shaw than later became an outstanding closer for the Dodgers, for too short a time before he left for an outside reason.

Thanks for the entry, Mark. I remember that game, the first time Jeff Shaw played in a Dodgers uni. I wonder if there’s ever been another case of that with any other player for any other team in All-Star history.

On a different note, lots of people, when they are handed the responsibility of running something, strive to excel, while leaving their own mark on it. Unfortunately for Bud Selig, that mark is a steaming pile of defecation in the middle of baseball history. Leave all the ‘roids-deniability out of it, and you’re still left with Bud Selig’s single handed destruction of one of baseball’s most beloved institutions.

I’m only 28 years old, and I know that what I watched last night was not an All-Star Game. All-Star Games are supposed to be fun. Selig has sapped all the fun out of it with a combination of making the All-Star Game “count” for homefield advantage (Why not make them all wear dresses while you’re at it? Would make as much sense.), and creating Interleague baseball, which is exciting when it’s Dodgers-Angels, Yankees-Mets or Cubs-White Sox, but then we have to suffer through Pittsburgh-Tampa Bay, Minnesota-Atlanta and San Diego-Kansas City.

I remember the All-Star Game being so jovial an affair, that when Randy Johnson threw over John Kruk’s head in 1993, everyone involved recognized it as a comical situation, and it was a big laugh. There was another instance (can’t remember who) where a player, after having no luck from one side of the plate, turned his helmet backwards and had a go from the other side. The All-Star Game was FUN.

Now, everyone looks like they have a hernia out there.

With the steroid (read: Bud Selig’s) problem hammered into our sub-conscious, and the ESPNs of the world throwing every negative story they can at us, Now more than ever, the fans need the All-Star Break to be a BREAK. We need a laugh, and the one game where they seemed to be plentiful, now it’s just another reminder of Bud Selig leaving his “mark” on baseball.

NSBlues ~ you ar so right. The A.S. Game is not fun any more. Last night’s game was decided by and Padre and an Oriole….neither team will make the playoffs! Everyone in the media says the American League is superior. I think the manager does a better job during the game than the National League Manager has done. The Phillies did win the World Series last year, National League, aren’t they?

I only saw the last few innings of the All Star Game so I missed Pujols big error early, but from what I saw I thought it was a pretty good game to watch. There were some outstanding defensive plays and solid pitching. I admit I don’t like the fact that the winning side gets home field advantage in the World Series but I also see how this little facit adds some meaning to the game. I get your point that this game shouldn’t need any gimmicks to reach its objective: to give the fans an opportunity to see the best of the best play a game. I think it could be argued even that no longer happens with the expanded rosters and the popularity contest choosing the squads has become. But what I noticed most about last night’s game was it seemed every moment was framed around a commercial for some product. I mentioned this to my wife and she reminded me even the Dodger broadcasts have become that with the “Baby Ruth 7th inning streatch” annd so forth. I was happy to see Orlando Hudson get a base hit as much as I was a bit bummed that Bills gave up a run.

So why has the American League dominated the National League? Are the best players in the junior circuit? Is the pitching better? Or is it just one of those things? I certainly don’t know.

On Monday night, August 10th the Dodgers will be playing the Giants in SF. We are working on getting a group of ITD’ers to show our love of the Blue up here at the Giants stadium for that game. The tix we are looking at are around $60.00 each including all the service, etc charges.
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So far the Nelly family, including Tru, & D4 are in. We are trying to find out who else would be interested. If we get more than 25 they have group plans which would probably make the tix less.
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Please reply to in the next couple of days here or in Facebook if you are on there and let us know if you would want to go and how many would be with you. We’ll see what we can get together. But we wanted to have a ITD North party so to speak. Some of us would be spending the day there getting lunch before heading to the stadium for the game. It would be really fun for me to meet those that I wasn’t able to at the ITD Tour as well as for those that went to meet again. It would be great if those of you from the south make it as well.
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Joe it would be great to have you out but I can’t afford it. McCourt has a little more $$$ than I do.

Nelly, we managed through the off season discussing the season that had just ended and all the moves the Dodgers should or could make to get better. We were all excited to win the first round of the playoffs and greatly disappointed to lose the second round. Then there was all the Manny talk and other free agent signings to argue about so I think we had plenty to keep us busy.

At this stage of the season the Dodgers have the best record in baseball, are leading their division by 7 games, survived Manny’s suspension (or vacation if you will), and have been fun (and frustrating) to watch. There still is a long way to go and the Dodgers have to play every game as if it meant a playoff spot. They cannot get complacent. The Giants and Rockies could still make a run and make the race close. I almost expect that to happen since historically the Dodgers never seem to do anything the easy way. Honestly, would you want it any other way?

Collie – just so you know, the difference between the ITD tour and this, is that my hubby and son were not at the tour, but will be at this game. As you know, they are gnat fans, and unlike last time when I watched this matchup with them at Dodger Stadium in the safe surroundings of dodgereric’s family and the other 50,000+ Dodger fans, the tables are now turned……………yikes!!! (jk) However, since I am buying the tickets, they will be unaware that they will be sitting surrounded by ITD Dodger fans – LOL!!!! Maybe this isn’t so bad after all :))))

It has been interesting to see how many Dodger fans there are at opposing parks and how much noise they seem to make. However, from what I have seen on TV this does not seem to be the case at phone company park in S.F.

Dodger fans were challenged about how they would react to Manny since they were none to kind to Barry Bonds. Some writers even called Dodger fans hypocritical if they supported Manny when Bonds was given such a hard time. The real question is how hypocritical will it be for Giants fans to boo Manny as a “cheater”.

Lbirken, I kinda think Dodger fans booed Bonds because he was a pr**k. The cheating factored into it, but the crowds were chanting Barry S***s long before he ballooned into Roid status. That’s why I didn’t buy Plaschke’s argument that Dodger fans would be hypocrites for cheering Manny. Manny has a likeable persona, Bonds wanted you to hate him.

Nelly and D-Co, I won’t be able to make the Nor-Cal meetup, though I’d love to… just too much going on, but I’m very glad you’re having it. One thing to think about after doing the ITD Tour is that it’s hard to talk to people at the game, so a lunch time meetup sounds great. Give ’em hell for me at the game.

Actually Birk it get’s pretty noisy with the Dodger fans there.
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Nelly — That’s okay that your family will be there. Even though they are Giant fans I’m sure they’re great people. I may hate the Giants but I have many friends that are Giant fans. It would be tough if Wifey was a Giant fan.
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NSB — You will be missed.
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As far as the supporting Manny issue, I have to agree with NSB. Although Manny has done some idiotic things, he is way more likable than Bonds. Even if Bonds became a Dodger I would of had a hard time cheering for him. But I have no problem cheering for Manny. For the most part, Manny just seems to have a better attitude. Bonds just seemed bitter towards pretty much everybody and that he was burdened to have to play baseball. Manny seems to have fun playing ball.

Looks like his credit limit might have been reduced a little.
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If he’s looking for another Wolf, which I think Wolf has done a good job. JMO….I hope they can give both some run support. I have seen Mulders name come up alot. Supposedly he is 95% ready and us, and two others are interested, according to his agent.

Whatever it takes means without absorbing a lot of payroll at the present time. Someone had an article about teams going back to rebuilding through the farm system in the post steroids era vs the steroid era, under 30 vs over 30.
I cant remember where I read that at the moment. But it seems to be a sign of the times with the economy and payrolls shrinking. So prospects will be a big factor in the future, unless salaries give. Wolf in my opinion has done a good job he is no Halladay that is for sure, and things could of been a little more productive. I agree he does’nt always give you 7+ innings and is prone to giving up a dinger. However he has kept us in most of the games he has pitched. Mulder I am unfamiliar with??? I do remember his name being mentioned earlier in the season though and has recurfaced, so maybe there is some validity to it???

i definitely agree we need to add another pitcher,and i wish halliday could go to the dodgers but i dont think its worth it if we have to give up a deal including russ,loney,kemp,bills,ethier, or kersh.which is what the jays will be asking for.cliff lee would be nice, but theyd probably ask for one of thos guys that jays will be asking for as well.washburn would be great,but i dont think seattle will become sellers and theyll take a run at the playoffs.i think a guy like banister or maybe javier vazquez,since atlanta is looking for offense.maybe a deal with pierre,dewitt,mcdonald or something, but i think braves want power. a guy that really catches my eye is zach duke of the pirates. hes an all star,hes 25, hes got 3 complete games, and a low era. i dont know if pitts would be willing to trade him,but they were willing to trade mcclouth.if we could get duke thatd add another solid starter with upside for years to come.but i doubt pitts will trade him.we definitely do need to update our pen’.i really think we just need an effictive guy that can stay healthy.belisario was great but now hes hurt,kuo was the man last year but now hes hurt,wade was great in the playoffs but hes been hurt or inconsictent. ohman did nothin for us. and brox is banged up.i think a decent experienced starter who can eat innings and a healthy,clutch set up man is what we need.hopefully we can get it without giving up too much.good luck ned.hope he makes the right moves.

i heard that mark mulder was gaining some interest in a few teams,including the dodgers.he was great 6 maybe 7 years ago with the a’s and he was solid in his first year with st louis,he does have ring,but hes been plagued with multiple injury for years so im not sure how hed look now.while he may be worth the chance, i dont think hes the answer as our final starter in the rotation

Hello Gang!! Hope you are all well and happy!!! I’m very anxious for the start of the second half. I think we have the horses to get it done in house. I would absolutely not give up Billz or Kersh for Halliday. Seems to me that the problem is getting them thru the 6th and 7th inning. They all have the talent and “stuff”. If it were me, I would consider the common denominator in this equation. Honeycutt!! I don’t think we have a problem with the horse power, I think it is getting it to the road. We need a pitching coach that can instill that “Eye of the Tiger” mentality to these guys. Letting Maddux and Hershiser out of the fold was ignorant as I believe they are the type of pitching coach we need to get the guys we have to realize their potential. Even Wolf and Kuroda. Just my opinion.
Don’t even get me started on letting Scioscia get away!!!!!

And not having Brett Butler in our organization is total crap.
He was a freaking gamer. Fundamentally sound, knows how to play the game, and a class act. The old “Dodger Way To Play Baseball”!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Big D, Drysdale and Gibson didn’t go out there to pitch 5 or 6 innings. This quality start of 6 innings and 3 runs is b*llsh*t!!! It just enables them to strive for mediocrity!!!!
Totally Old School, but, that’s what made this game great and America’s game.

How come pitchers used to be able to go out every 4th day and throw 100 pitches plus when there weren’t all the (so called) advanced training facilities and techniques, and now they can’t get thru 7 innings every 5th freaking day.

I am doing great!! ….and don’t worry about talking to yourself. You aren’t the first and you certainly won’t be the last :)))

The young guns proved they can win even without Manny, and I do see some need for pitching, whether it’s through help or better coaching, but trading a current position player kind of decreases our offense, yes?. With the exception being Russell, I suppose, all the other position player’s backups don’t even come close to putting up the numbers the current ones do.

Good point Shad. So far, so good. My contention is that we will not be able to sustain that pace with our starters going 4 or 5 innings and being inconsistant. I hope I am wrong. Dog days of summer really take a toll.

If it was strictly a matter of pitching….the gnats have the edge IMO because their pitchers (Cain and Linsecum) are going into the late innigs and winning. Even Zito and Johnson have had a few QS. They weren’t necessarily wins, but their aren’t eating up their bullpen either. No, offense, we have them hands down. So, we just need to hit Linsecum and Cain (which we do well against) and we should be just fine against them.

I think our coaching and management is our weak link right now, not our players and talent. JMO!!!! I do wish we had Maddux, Hershiser, Scioscia, and Butler in our corner. I don’t think I would be sorry about any of them!!!!

You are more than welcome my friend. I have no idea where your father (dodgereric) and Beav(enchanted) have been…………..up to no good I am sure :)))) It’s good seeing you around, and I can’t wait for the second half to start tomorrow. Take care, good night and God Bless jhall!!!!

ahhh yes… Jeff Shaw… I remember that trade… it was on 4th of July and Konerko had to make the walk of shame because SF didn’t have an underground way out of Candlestick so between innings he had to walk accross the field to leave through the bullpen… Everytime I see Konerko play I think to myself… Thats a trade I’d love to see not happen… Konerko and Denis Reyes for that piece of crap Shaw… Thanks Tommy (GM at the time) for screwing us with that one.

This was a very interesting article about RISP and RBIs. Our boys Casey Blake and Andre Ethier are on the list. It is mentioned that Andre was on top of this list and has since dropped, but the fact that he is still on this list, considering all we heard is how he was slumping and JP was carrying the team for two months during Manny’s suspension.

Good Morning ITDland. Finally after the longest three days of my life, DODGER BASEBALL is back! Let’s continue our winning ways Dodger Blue!
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Very interesting, NellyJune. Most of us knew Andre was an RBI guy but, thank-you for reminding us of how important he is to the team!

The blue Jays wants Shortstop prospect so we might have to give up Dee Gordon but from what I’ve heard he considered “near untouchable”…I really don’t think we have the prospects to get a deal done. We might have to include Lambo as well but even if its Martin, Lambo and whoever I really wouldn’t care. As long as Billz, Kershaw, Kemp, Either and Broxton aren’t part of a deal I’ll be happy….I’m going to the game tonight! I can’t wait it’s been a long 4 days without Dodger baseball.

Not unusual to find me in agreement with Enchanted, and I’m right on that Halladay deal. Might throw in a Repko or Hoffmann, if that makes a difference. Would not part with either Kershaw or Billz, because, even if Halladay has a decided edge on those two at this point, it doesn’t clearly give us that additional top line pitcher if we have to subtract either of our current two.

Have any of you picked up the July 6th issue of Sporting News? The Dodgers are on the cover (Billz, Kemp, Loney, Ethier and Torre to be exact), and it has a pretty good article titled “Missing Manny?”. Some stuff I knew and some stuff I didn’t know. A few things that stuck out were the friendship between Matt Kemp and Casey Blake (kind of cool); Torre in 2008, had a difficult time dealing with Kemp, Martin, Broxton and Pierre, and Pierre being the most difficult, but all seems to be better with all of them this season; once again, Torre comparing the current Dodgers to his former Yankee players, which I understand to a point, but doesn’t he realize most of us are not Yankee fans and never will be; and, of course, how will Manny do in the 2nd half. I did find it interesting the Martin wasn’t on the cover – hmmmmmm.

I was a Yankee fan at one time. I got it from my dad who liked them because Mantle was also from OK. That was before the Dodgers came west, and it really did not rub off until all of that group was gone. I did not follow baseball very closely for a couple of years, but when Cey, Garvey and that group came up I was a Dodger fan. I’ve got to admit I didn’t have much trouble cheering for those teams of Torre’s that made it to the series in the90’s

Thanks nelly! I was at Manny’s debut last year too and It felt like a playoff game! I’m expecting the same tonight. I’ll be in my favorite part of the stadium the Loge section! The Loge seats behind home plate at Dodger Stadium are some of the best in baseball.

aeversw – That’s my favorite deck as well. The closest I have been to homeplate on that deck is behind the Dodger Dugout. I have been in section 1, field level, behind home plate, and that was good, but for some reason, the Loge deck is pretty awesome.

knouffbrock – That is pretty cool. I know there are a lot of Yankee fans who wish they had Torre back. There is a checker at my local grocery store that makes that comment every time I come through the line “I wish we had Torre back,” and there are some days (after a mismanaged game) I tell him ” I wish you did too” – LOL!!! As long as we are winning, it’s hard to be mad at any of them really. It’s really a “hopeful” thinking right now…..hopeful in that Ned makes the right decisions before the trade deadline.

Good afternoon everyone! I’m glad our boys are back in action, even though I won’t be home to watch, I’ll be checking updates on my phone. Let’s hope our momentum continues, and even goes up a notch to blow out the rest of the NL West!!

I really like Halladay, but I’m not sure if I want to give up the farm and Martin for a guy that could only be a 1 1/2 year rental. Not sure if it’s worth it if we can’t negotiate and lock him into an extension prior to the trade.

Good afternoon everybody! I hope all is well with everybody!
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Tough call on trading for Halliday. Even if we only have him for the rest of this season and the next, he could get the team over the top. A Championship would be worth a few farm players & Martin. It’s a risk. To me prospects are only prospects. I’ve seen so many guys who were “can’t miss” and missed. Also I love Martin and it would be a loss for the team to lose him. He handles & knows the staff. I think he works hard and goes all out and really wants to win. I think he really enjoys playing the game & is a guy that all the other players like. But…
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Go Blue!!
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Bring the Ring to LA in 2009!!!

Hello there Mike. Yes it is a worry with Ned there. But he has done a little better this last year.
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The more I think about it though I really think we need a #1 or #2 pitcher on the team.
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But to trade away one of our current pitchers for him as Bear stated wouldn’t be helping out much as we need to add pitching depth.
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I heard that even though the Phillies signed Pedro they still are interested in Halliday.
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I’m thinking that Ned might go after some sort of a package deal for Washburn & Batista.

I apologize for the formatting below. I put that data in a spreadsheet and then created a new column that merely divided the RBIs by the PAs. I then sorted it in descending order. Interesting to see who shows up at the top.

Washburn sounds like a Ned type – best years are 5-6-7 behind him. Doing decently this year but, what’s the point? To me the point is not just to make it to the playoffs, but to make it all the way through. Halliday has that potential to get you there, Washed-up doesn’t. This is what frustrates me with Ned.

Look at it this way also – We have Manny this year and next. Love him or hate him there’s no denying the offense is markedly better with him in the line-up. We get Halliday for a year and a half and we’ve got two seasons of potentially going all the way with just minor adjustments to the bully and catching. Without three frontline starters in the playoffs, you get what we had last year – close but no cigar.

We totally hang our hats on the current young core and possibly Lambo, Lindblom, Kyle and Gordon making a big splash in a couple years, we’ll always be competitive, but doubtful we ever make it all the way.

32and53fan – Great job on that!!! I checked on the averages too, and Casey and Andre are doing very well. I guess when you are streaky, like Andre has been, it doesn’t really show day to day what he has done in the last two months.

Ned at the helm is quite worrisome. The number one thing that annoys me about the way our team is perceived in the media is that Post-Manny, Ned gets no flack.

Ned got lucky with Manny and Blake (who has been good so far, and I hope this is more of what we can expect over the next 2 years). But even with Manny, Ned signed a guy who was using steroids. I would’ve been pissed during the offseason if we hadn’t gotten Manny, but when the test came back, I’d have understood the same way the Mitchell Report made the events of July 31st, 2004 a bit easier to swallow.

IF we don’t get a Championship out of this squad, hindsight is not going to be very kind to “Lucky” Ned Colletti, the GM who fallowed the Dodgers’ farm.

All of the baseball pundits are saying whoever gets Halliday will have the championship! I tend to agree…..so, if we are not so lucky to land him, please make it so no other offers are satisfactory for Toronto and they decide to keep him!

It’s a lot of fun to think about inserting Halladay into our rotation. I do it. I also think about the necessity of doing it just to keep him out of Philadelphia, but I don’t really see Ned getting into a situation like the Bosox/Yankees.

No, what we’re most likely going to do is more of the usual. It’s the same mentality that got us the likes of Milton and Weaver and Vargas and Estes. If anyone comes in, be ready to welcome Miguel Batista or Doug Davis or Mark Mulder or some other dumpster gem.

Let’s hope Ned has some more luck pulling BP rabbits out of his hat, because Joe will burn ’em out. Proctor, Saito, Kuo, Wade, Bellisario. Troncoso, you’re next. And better be careful with Broxton, don’t be in a hurry to bring him back. Remember what happened to Dizzy Dean.

Ned Colletti SUCKS; to the best of my knowledge, he’s always SUCKED; and, if he does not land Halladay without giving up Billz, Kersh, Loney, Andre, Kemp, he’ll always SUCK HARD. If he lands Halladay, it doesn’t mean that he’ll have stopped SUCKING; he just won’t suck as hard, and in time I may forget and forgive Schmidt, JP, and Loaiza, not to mention so many others. So what is it going to be SUCKER? Get the job done and bring the Series (I mean Halladay) to LA.

Nelly, not to worry. The natives are defintely restless which means things are back to normal. With the trade deadline fast approaching, its time to fasten your seatbelts, put your tray tables in the up position and get ready for an exciting trip towards October.

Dodgereric, Bear and Enchanted ~ No mincing of words today! lol We her you loud and clear…….in fact, I think the entire Dodger Organization know how you feel. Hopefully, Frank will do the right thing and give Ned permission to sign Halliday. We the fans deserve Doc!

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